In his column this week, Larry Wilson discusses the fire season and getting ready for colder weather . . .
A few weeks ago, I wrote that it looked like there would not be much of a fire season on the North Fork. Like all politicians and most columnists, I did add a disclaimer – unless we have unusually dry weather. So far I am sticking with my original opinion. No big fire season on the North Fork in 2011. However, I’m going to expand on my disclaimer.
Larry Wilson’s column this week discusses the recently-formed NFLA History Committee, tasked with preserving the history of the North Fork . . .
The North Fork Landowners Association has established a history committee, and their current project is to do oral interviews with North Fork old timers. It’s too bad the project cannot include original homesteaders of the area, all of whom have now passed over the Great Divide. Good thing is that today’s old timers knew the homesteaders.
That knowledge, coupled with the written interviews of homesteaders done by the Forest Service, Park Service and Hungry Horse editor Mel Ruder, should make a more complete picture of North Fork history from homestead days up to the 1960s.
In this week’s column, Larry talks about the encouraging drop in bear-human conflicts this summer. . . .
I’m a little bit surprised that there have been so few grizzly bear problems this summer.
On Trail Creek, the huckleberry crop has been less than bountiful in the lower elevations, and this usually translates to more bear problems.
The two three-year-old sows that have been seen quite often have not caused any problems, and the big boar on Trail Creek has also been seen but, so far, has not been a problem.
I think there are several reasons for this, but the biggest is the fact that North Fork humans have become excellent guests in grizzly habitat.
Timothy Egan posted an interesting “Opinionator” piece to the New York Times today titled “Nature Without the Nanny State.” It discusses the rising incidence of city-bred visitors ignoring common sense precautions when visiting national parks, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Here’s the meat of the piece . . .
More than ever, an urban nation plagued by obesity, sloth and a surfeit of digital entertainment should encourage people to experience the wild — but does that mean nature has to be tame and lawyer-vetted?
My experience, purely anecdotal, is that the more rangers try to bring the nanny state to public lands, the more careless, and dependent, people become. There will always be steep cliffs, deep water, and ornery and unpredictable animals in that messy part of the national habitat not crossed by climate-controlled malls and processed-food emporiums. If people expect a grizzly bear to be benign, or think a glacier is just another variant of a theme park slide, it’s not the fault of the government when something goes fatally wrong.
Larry Wilson discusses the recent organizational elections . . .
At first it seemed that summer would never arrive. It certainly took its own sweet time. June was cold and rainy, and it was cool and wet in July – we celebrated the anniversary of the Wedge Canyon Fire of 2003 on July 18 with a rainstorm.
All of a sudden it’s mid-August and already there are signs of fall. The huckleberry crop is waning, and the serviceberries are ripening. Just a note to Joe Novak – ripe serviceberries may be purple, but they are otherwise nothing like huckleberries.
All of the local organizations have held their annual elections…
Patti Hart, editor of the NFNews site, ably standing in for Larry Wilson this week, adds a little context to the North Fork experience . . .
I’m new to the North Fork. Although I’ve been living on the North Fork for more than 11 years and have actually spent several winters here, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that I’m a newcomer.
That’s not to say that I’ve not learned a lot since arriving. I now know that wimpy city tires are a guaranteed way of getting a flat tire on the North Fork road, that locally-sourced game is the best meat in the world, that hummingbird feeders attract grizzly bears, and that diesel will fail to do its duty at 40 below.
I still have a lot to learn, however. For example, I don’t know the best method for getting rid of pests like ground squirrels and noxious weeds. And I still don’t understand how 20 or so otherwise rational adults can stand around at a party and discuss the relative merits of headlamps for an hour. As I said, still a lot to learn.
This week, Larry talks about the approach of fire season and common sense preparation for its arrival . . .
We humans are a worrisome lot. We have just finished worrying about flooding, and now it’s time to worry about fire season…
So could 2011 be a big fire year? Barely possible, certainly unlikely…
This week, Larry reports on last weekend’s auction at Sondreson Hall and previews some of the other activities scheduled for the next few weeks . . .
The auction at Sondreson Hall last weekend had more than one goal. First was to revive an old tradition. Second was to provide a community experience by hosting a community-wide activity. Finally, there was a desire to raise some money to fund the North Fork Landowners Association’s History Committee.
That committee has expressed interest in doing oral histories of long-time North Fork residents and redigitizing the 78 rpm records that have been the basis for years of square dancing at Sondreson Hall. Maybe some funds could be used for a new sound system as well?
All these goals were met. The community responded with donations which covered every interest…
In this week’s column, Larry Wilson covers a broad range of topics, including the Border Patrol’s seemingly excessive secrecy about their operations . . .
It has been another action-packed, fun-filled week on the North Fork, with community service, educational, informative and just plain fun social events. The biggest gathering was for the interlocal meeting, which I would call informative and educational.
For several years, the Border Patrol has been asked about the threat level on the North Fork and whether or not arrests have been made here and, if so, for what offense. The Border Patrol’s reply is that they can tell us arrests have been made but they cannot provide details or inform us about the threat level.
I can understand not being informed about the threat level – that might fluctuate from day to day subject to nationwide possibilities. I don’t understand why we cannot be told about North Fork arrests and what the violations were. Even assuming continuing investigation of a particular event, they could give us details of 2008-2010 arrests. We would then know what to watch for and could even aid the Border Patrol with information.
Larry Wilson covers two big events of the past week: The annual Polebridge Fourth of July Parade and the Bear Fair, both of which were rousing successes . . .
What a great week on the North Fork. The Fourth of July parade was a big success, with some resident-created floats, lots of American flags and handsome kids on unicycles leading the whole thing…
Also this week was the Bear Fair in beautiful downtown Polebridge, which was funded in part by a Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee grant…